Wind Direction?

[Diane_W]

I'm very new to all this weather watching stuff, only started since

I moved to North Lowestoft, where my house is on a cliff overlooking the North Sea.

We have been here for exactly 5 months today, and in that time the wind hasn't once

blown from a North, or North Easterly direction.

I'm now aware that the vast majority of our weather comes from the Atlantic, so it's

reasonable to expect the wind to come from a westerly, or south westerly direction for most of the year.

What I would like to know is if there are any records or statistics in relation to wind direction across the UK?

5 months seems an awfully long time without the wind coming from a different direction, but I might be wrong,

this could be completely normal.

[johnholmes]

try the Met Office web site

and yes we have had a pretty long spell of winds from a west or south west point, some from the south, but it seems rather unusual that on the edge of the N Sea not to have any wind at all from off the sea. How about sea breezes during the summer?

Welcome to Net Wx

John

[Diane_W]

try the Met Office web site

and yes we have had a pretty long spell of winds from a west or south west point, some from the south, but it seems rather unusual that on the edge of the N Sea not to have any wind at all from off the sea. How about sea breezes during the summer?

Welcome to Net Wx

John

Thanks for the reply John.

Yes we had a few light breezes from off the sea during august, but I'm really interested

in the actual wind, and weather systems coming from the North or Easterly direction.

I'll try the Met Office site.

Thanks again.

Diane

PS

Attached a photograph I took of an area of the coast about 3/4 mile north of where

I now live. This is the beach between Corton and Hopton. I should think the residents here will be praying they don't get

too many weather systems coming in from the East or North. The cliffs are protected, but any big sea swell brings down another large chunk.

[Nick F]

Has been a long bout of South to South-West winds pretty much since August - mainly due to stubborn high pressure over the continent and low pressure to the NW and W.

Traditionally the Atlantic Westerlies tend to die down at times in late winter (though not always) and during Spring -so this is when we may encounter more Easterly winds. Late Feb 2005 saw winds prevailing from the East for over two weeks due to high pressure to the NE and N. It is rare for Northerlies to last so long in duration (over a week) though as high pressure blocking is needed to maintain over the mid-Atlantic - which is itself rare.

Last winter was dominated much of the time by blocking highs, so SW'erlies weren't the dominant wind direction for a change, due to Atlantic lows be kept way West of the UK.

[Diane_W]

Has been a long bout of South to South-West winds pretty much since August - mainly due to stubborn high pressure over the continent and low pressure to the NW and W.

Traditionally the Atlantic Westerlies tend to die down at times in late winter (though not always) and during Spring -so this is when we may encounter more Easterly winds. Late Feb 2005 saw winds prevailing from the East for over two weeks due to high pressure to the NE and N. It is rare for Northerlies to last so long in duration (over a week) though as high pressure blocking is needed to maintain over the mid-Atlantic - which is itself rare.

Last winter was dominated much of the time by blocking highs, so SW'erlies weren't the dominant wind direction for a change, due to Atlantic lows be kept way West of the UK.

Thanks for the technical information Nick.

So which one of the weather experts on here will give me a prediction of when

the next Easterly Winds will hit the UK?

[Nick F]

Thanks for the technical information Nick.

So which one of the weather experts on here will give me a prediction of when

the next Easterly Winds will hit the UK?

I don't really delve into Long Range Forecasts, short-term analysis is more my thing, but looking at others' LRFs I'd say there's a reasonable chance of a spell of Easterly winds by late January, if not, sometime in February. Can't see any Easterlies this side of the New Year atm :blush: .

[Diane_W]

I don't really delve into Long Range Forecasts, short-term analysis is more my thing, but looking at others' LRFs I'd say there's a reasonable chance of a spell of Easterly winds by late January, if not, sometime in February. Can't see any Easterlies this side of the New Year atm :blush: .

Thanks Nick

So we've pinned it down to January or February 2007.

Does that weather predicting equipment cost much?

Diane

[Nick F]

Thanks Nick

Does that weather predicting equipment cost much?

Diane

No, free if you look at winter forecasts on N-W in the winter discussion thread from reputable LRF'ers such as Glacier Point and Steve Murr also The official N-W winter forecast from Ian Brown - all pointing to cold weather in January and February - probably some of the cold weather the result of Easterly winds.

[Diane_W]

No, free if you look at winter forecasts on N-W in the winter discussion thread from reputable LRF'ers such as Glacier Point and Steve Murr also The official N-W winter forecast from Ian Brown - all pointing to cold weather in January and February - probably some of the cold weather the result of Easterly winds.

I'm getting the feeling that the best way to give a weather forecast is to look out of the window.

Diane

[david16]

How depressing that winds are almost exclusively from the west or southwest for far too big a proportion of the winter. Yet for most of the rest of the year, the winds come from any direction. If only a mid June deep depression with northeasterly winds 2 years ago had happened 6 months earlier it would have been a blizzard, but that type of weather with a NE wind never sadly seems to happen these days in winter.

It's extremely hellish that a low pressure system looks as though a northwesterly in the mid-Atlantic is heading towards us, yet the moment it reaches the UK shore the wind suddenly switches southwesterly again. Why does that keep happening?

Edited December 6, 2006 by david16